Kansas City is a natural choice for a quick summer getaway. It’s relatively close to Manhattan, and it has enough choices of activity that you can tailor your trip to your family.
Whether they’re into sports, science, nature or books, you can find enough activities to fill your time.
Here are a few kid-friendly itinerary ideas based on your family’s interests.
For the literature lovers
If your children love to read, build a day trip or weekend around a visit to the new children’s book museum, Rabbit Hole. It’s an immersive place where the pages of beloved story books become entire rooms to explore.
The Rabbit Hole opened in the spring in North Kansas City. Visitors will love seeing life-size sets to look like “Goodnight Moon,” “Madeline” and “Caps for Sale.”
After that, head to the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library. Be sure to park in the garage made to look like a giant book shelf, and let kids play on the book-shaped stairs.
Children love climbing on the giant book-shaped stairs and looking at the book covers at the Kansas City Central Public Library’s parking garage. Stop to let them play before doing a scavenger hunt in the library itself.
Across the street, the library is in an old bank building, and the architecture alone is worth the stop. But kids can enjoy a scavenger hunt that will take them from the rooftop (complete with a giant chess board) to the basement vault, where the library shows free movies.
After that you’ll probably want to stop at some book stores. One favorite is Prospero’s, a used book store in the Westport neighborhood packed with three floors of volumes. A better option for kids, though is probably Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas, because it has a large children’s section.
For the animal fanatics
Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead in Overland Park sounds like merely a petting zoo, but the sprawling 12-acre park has plenty to occupy families for a day.
They can pan for gold, go fishing in the stocked pond, feed goats and explore the butterfly garden.
Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead in Overland Park has plenty of animals to pet, but it also has historical exhibits like this schoolhouse.
The farmstead also has a surprising number of history-related features, including several old buildings. Kids can go to the one-room schoolhouse and ask as many questions as they want to a trained docent. Or they can see old products (and new) in a general store that also functions as a gift shop.
One of the most interesting features is a Kanza Indian encampment with full-sized earthen lodge.
If that’s not enough to keep you busy for the day, check out Prairiefire Museum, also in Overland Park. The rainbow-colored exterior is pretty amazing, but my kids were enthralled by the towering T-rex skeleton. They also loved the upstairs, which boasted lots of small animals in interactive exhibits. They got to feed a lizard and dig for fossils.
Both Deanna Rose and Prairiefire are on the Sunflower Summer app, which gives school-aged kids and their parents free admission over the summer.
For the sports buffs
Obviously, summer is a great time to go watch a Royals game. Why not expand on that and package it with a trip to the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Missouri?
Major League Baseball recently added stats from the Negro Leagues to the record books, so it’s a great time for kids to learn about the history behind these amazing athletes, many of whom now top the MLB in various categories.
Visitors can see artifacts and videos from the Kansas City Monarchs and other teams, as well as a life-sized infield with statues of some of the leagues’ most famous players. The museum is adjacent to the American Jazz Museum, so that’s an option, too.
More fun
There are so many more categories we could do: Wonderscope for the science-obsessed kids, Kemper Art Museum for the creatives.
But in my experience, every family will need a place to eat and maybe a playground to stop at before heading home.
Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant is a classic, kid-friendly choice if you’re in that part of town.
We also Lenexa Public Market, a casual food hall, and Mission Taco Joint, which has a solid kids’ menu.
Something whimsical like Donutology, where you can customize your own mini donuts, is another fun option.
